This essay traces the history of an activity designed to promote the intellectual and social development of elementary-age schoolchildren during the afterschool hours. Following in the footsteps of Urie Bronfenbrenner, I highlight his argument that just as all human development occurs in contexts of varying levels of inclusiveness and mutual…

We examine (a) the normative course of eudaimonic well-being in emerging adulthood and (b) whether people's narratives of major life goals might prospectively predict eudaimonic growth 3 years later. We define eudaimonic growth as longitudinal increases in eudaimonic well-being, which we define as the combination of psychosocial maturity and…

A recognition memory experiment with 8-, 11- and 20-year-olds investigated the hypothesis that, with age, semantic encoding becomes increasingly important relative to acoustic encoding. (CM)

Examines whether the use of weight or linear array comparisons provide a contextual cue which facilitates the comprehension of the comparative terms "more" and "less". (Author/ED)

Discusses the patterns of mental development of 350 pairs of twins studied longitudinally from 11/2-6 years of age. (DP)

Investigates the development sequence of children's comprehension of riddles. In Study I riddles and jokes were collected and classified from children of grades 1 through 10. In Study II, students of grades 1, 3, 6, 10, and college were given selected riddles from three categories determined in Study I to test the predicted comprehension sequence.…

A study of the development of 6- to 12-year-old children's appreciation of verbal jokes was conducted within the framework of the incongruity and resolution theory of humor. Results revealed age differences indicating that older children appreciated both structural components while younger children appreciated the incongruity structure. (ST)

The influence of perceptual factors and language comprehension on quantity judgments (number conservation) was assessed in children, aged 2-5. (ST)

Studies the development of children's understanding of the multiple determination underlying human behavior. Subjects were kindergarten children, fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders. (CM)

This study indicated that the school performance and intelligence quotients of associative responders diverge significantly over time from those of nonassociative responders. This divergence becomes greater with age, suggesting that reliance on associative responding in preference to reasoning may cumulatively interfere with intellectual…

Defines life-span developmental psychology as the study of constancy and change in behavior throughout the life course. Advances metatheoretical view regarding development. Stresses focus on the dynamic and continuous interplay between growth (gain) and decline (loss). Examines structural contextual factors and study of range of plasticity in…

Examined the relation of control beliefs to individual differences in 63 elderly adults in 1981 and 1986. Over the 5 years, generalized control and intellectual performance did not change, but intellectual control beliefs did. (RJC)

Assessed the intellectual development and academic achievement of 87 diabetic children during the first 6 years of their illness. At the initial diagnosis, intellectual performance and school grades were in the average range. Over time, verbal intellectual performance and school grades declined, whereas nonverbal intellectual performance improved…

A cross-sectional, stratified random sample of 1,891 male and female adolescents (age range from 12 years 6 months to 17 years 6 months) was tested in 1970 with the Grades 9-12 form of the Primary Mental Abilities test. (Editor)